Copying Conditional Formatting

In Excel, conditional formatting is considered part of the regular formatting of a cell. If you want to copy conditional formatting from one cell to another, you can do so by simply copying the cell and pasting it (or its format) to another cell. If you want to copy a conditional format to a range of cells (and only the conditional format), the easiest way to do so is by following these general steps if you are using a version of Excel prior to Excel 2007:

1. Select the range to which you want the conditional format copied. Make sure, however, that the cell whose conditional format you want copied is part of the range.
2. Choose Conditional Format from the Format menu. You will see the Conditional Format dialog box. The format should already be filled in.
3. Click your mouse on OK.

That's it. Excel does the rest and copies the conditional formatting, as you desired. If you are using Excel 2007 then you'll want to follow these steps:

1. Select the cell that contains the conditional format you want copied.
2. Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
3. In the Styles section, click Conditional Formatting. Excel displays various options related to conditional formatting.
4. Click Manage Rules. Excel displays the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager. (Click here to see a related figure.) The format you want copied should already be filled in.
5. Select whatever appears in the Applies To box.
6. Using the mouse, click and drag to select the range of cells to which the conditional format should be applied.